Sad news: Commanders want to protect, limit sack total

Sam Howell is on track to set an NFL record this season, and not the good kind.

While Howell has shown promise during the Washington Commanders’ first six games by throwing for 1,500 yards and nine touchdowns, he’s also being sacked at a rate that is unlike anyone else in league history. He’s been sacked 34 times and is projected to finish the year with 96 sacks in 2023, which would shatter the record of 76 set by David Carr in 2002.

The reasons why sacks occur are more nuanced than blaming one player or position group, particularly when the number is that high. Sometimes it’s the offensive line; other times the pressure may come for another reason. Either way, the Commanders know it cannot continue at that rate.

“We do talk constantly about lowering the sack total,” head coach Ron Rivera said on Wednesday. “Again, that’s twofold. That’s some things that we can do up front better and some things we can do better as the quarterback.”

The number of sacks Howell has taken, whether it’s from dominant defensive fronts or units struggling to generate pressure, has been a problem for Washington since the season began. He’s been taken down at least four times in every game and at least five times in five games. The apex of that was Week 3 against the Buffalo Bills, when the defense got to Howell nine times, tripling the team’s sack total up to that point.

Indeed, it’s been an unfortunate trend that teams get a substantial boost when they play Washington. The Chicago Bears had two sacks heading into their game against the Commanders, and they eclipsed that almost three times over by the end of the Thursday Night matchup. In Week 6, the Atlanta Falcons matched their total of five sacks in the previous five games.

Howell has put much of the blame on himself.

“It’s tough, but it’s just something that I’ve got to continue to get better at,” Howell said. “I think that’s the next part of my game where I really need to show growth and development. I feel good about my ability to do that. It’s just a matter of going out there in the games and doing it.”

He’s not wrong, either. He tends to hold onto the ball for too long in the pocket, and when that happens, he either gives the pass rush more time to get to him or runs into the sack himself. Howell said that taking a sack will “kill the drive,” and that’s true, too. According to ESPN’s John Keim, the Commanders have scored a touchdown on just two of the 26 drives where Howell has taken a sack.

And Howell has worked on things he can do to cut down on the sack total. He’s put an emphasis on trying to either find an incompletion or throw a pass into the ground. He did exactly that at the end of the first half, when he elected to throw a ball at the feet of the Falcons’ defense on third down.

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